401k to IRA

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401k to IRA

I have a 401k with Fidelity now and it seems like i'm not were I should be at this point in the game. I am invested in a fund that goes by your retirement date and invests accordingly.I have less than 10 years to go.I called fidelity and they recommended that I transfer the money to an IRA and they will have better options to invest and manage it for me.One thing that concerns me is that an IRA is not safe from law suits as a 401k. I am not good at investing and I need someone to manage my money. Should I just let the money ride where it is or should I go with the IRA from fidelity? Thanks in advance.

I transferred my last company's Fidelity 401k to a Fidelity IRA, but I selected my own investments. Very happy with Fidelity.

You should consider speaking with a CFP, THT member Sprokets is a CFP and I am sure he could offer some initial advice.

Fidelity has tons of options. Make sure you do a direct transfer. Do not take possession of the account in between the transfer. Fidelity does hundreds of these every day. They can walk you through the process. Very painless.

I've been happy with Fidelity. If you know nothing about investing and don't want to learn, the target date funds are as good a choice as any. You should look at one thing before moving the money to an IRA. I found the fees I was being charged for my 401k at Fidelity were lower than the fees for the same investments in a Fidelity IRA. That was because my company had negotiated discounted fees due to the size of our workforce. If you're going to stay with the target date fund, keeping the investment inside the 401k might cost you less.

If you are worried about lawsuits, you should have an umbrella liability insurance policy.

Target date funds were originally designed as a CYA for plan trustees. They are an easy choice.

The problem is that they don't address the most critical risk which is running out of money. They tend to be too conservative as you near retirement. It takes a lot of money to fund a 20+ year retirement. Most risk tolerance questions deal with behavior issues, which can be addressed through education.